Financially struggling sugarcane growers in deep rural northern Zululand pay up to R400 per tonne just to deliver their harvests long distances for milling. A pilot project is assessing the already promising feasibility of them growing lucerne as a supplementary crop.
By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
If all goes well, the deep rural Makhathini Flats district in far northern Zululand could become another important hub for South Africa’s production of the high-quality and high-value livestock fodder, lucerne. A two-year project is under way to assess whether lucerne can be grown there successfully and profitably as a supplementary crop to the already long-grown sugarcane.
Theuns Theunissen is the Regional Manager in Zululand for the South African Canegrowers Association (SA Canegrowers). He says the trial was motivated to seek solutions for assisting the many hundreds of mostly small-scale sugarcane growers on the approximately 13 000ha Makhathini Flats (Makhathini) to improve their agronomic and financial sustainability.
Theunissen explains that whereas South Africa’s entire sugarcane value chain has long been experiencing financial difficulties, these are exacerbated for Makhathini’s growers. Their deep rural location requires transporting their harvests to sugar mills situated from 90km to 200km away and costs up to R400 per tonne. The 1ha to 10ha sizes of these growers’ farms preclude them from benefiting from economies of scale.
“Sugarcane production is a vital source of income for many of Makhathini’s residents. We’re hoping that lucerne can be a valuable supplementary crop that they can grow in rotation with their sugarcane.”
SA Canegrowers’ trial, which only started recently, is intended to run for two years. It is already reporting promising results from only a 0.5ha trial plot. Its first cut yielded 59 bales, each weighing an average of 26kg. These were snapped up by Makhathini’s livestock owners for R150 each.
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Market Dynamics Lessons Also Important
Theunissen continues: “So far we’re estimating annual combined yields of 18 tonnes to 25 tonnes of lucerne hay per hectare. At R150 per bale, this currently equates to R5 770/tonne of lucerne. The turnover per hectare at this price level is therefore estimated to be between R100 000 and R145 000, but we will learn how the market dictates the pricing going forward.”
Other potential benefits of growing lucerne on Makhathini include crop rotation, which helps break cycles of pests and diseases in sugarcane; the lucerne’s taproots naturally loosen soil compaction; the lucerne’s nitrogen-fixing properties reduce the need for expensive nitrogen fertilisers for the following sugarcane crop; the lucerne inhibits weed growth by shading them; it offers climate resilience in variable conditions; and it supports beneficial pollinators.
Envisaged markets for Makhathini’s potential widespread lucerne production include the many thousands of livestock owners on and immediately surrounding Makhathini, KwaZulu-Natal’s and South Africa’s wider livestock feeds sector, and possibly even exports to the Southern African Development Community, and the Middle East and Far East.
Most of Makhathini’s sugarcane growers already have access to arable land, irrigation, inputs and contracting services. They would, however, need training on the specifics of growing and harvesting their own lucerne crops. Some of these tasks can be done manually, but others need specialised equipment for the likes of land preparation, shallow planting and rolling, and baling. All this, however, is still potentially far down the road.
“SA Canegrowers does not intend for alternative crops, like lucerne, to result in less sugarcane supplies overall, but rather to ensure the long-term viability and productivity of the land and the growers. The philosophy is that healthy, financially sustainable farms that use sound practices like crop rotation will ultimately be able to produce higher-quality and higher-yield sugarcane,” says Theunissen.
Fredman Myeni, a small-scale sugarcane grower involved in the lucerne trial, is excited about the early results so far.
“If we can get the right knowledge, skills and equipment, we sugarcane growers can make very good money from also growing lucerne. We advertised the first bales from the trial and only minutes later they were all sold out. We’re still getting calls from people wanting to buy our lucerne bales.”
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